Wildlife experts often tell hikers that if they’ve spent any significant time on trails in the Bow Valley, they’ve likely been within about 10 metres of a cougar and never even realized it.
It might be that secretive, furtive stalking behaviour associated with the big cats that makes them an object of fear amongst outdoor lovers everywhere, including recently in the hills adjacent to the RancheHouse in Cochrane.
After the Town of Cochrane issued a warning to nearby hikers in the wake of a number of big cat sightings, residents have engaged in conversations about all things cougar, including what to do in the event of an encounter, what times of day to avoid venturing near their habitats, and what the predator is doing in the neighbourhood in the first place.
The answer to the last question may be as straightforward as, “That’s where she/he lives.”
A Town of Cochrane posting on Facebook Aug 11 read as follows:
“A cougar has been spotted in near the Cochrane RancheHouse. If you are planning on travelling through the Ranche, please proceed with caution. According to the Alberta Cougars and outdoor recreation website, cougars are elusive and prefer to avoid contact with humans. Be sure to keep your distance from any wildlife, even if they appear calm or friendly. Fish and Wildlife has been contacted and is aware of the situation.”
Alberta Fish and Wildlife provided a statement to The Eagle: "Last week, Alberta Fish and Wildlife received one report of a cougar sighting in the Cochrane area. True cougar sightings are relatively low in number as they are elusive and generally not found within heavily populated areas; however, sightings have been on the rise in the last decade due to a greater number of people living and recreating in traditional cougar habitat, as well as a healthy population of prey animals that has led to growth in the cougar population. It’s worth noting that cougars are often confused with other animals, and many sightings reported to wildlife agencies are found to be coyotes, bobcats, yellow dogs or even house cats."
Two local wildlife specialists stressed that residents of a town like Cochrane, located near the Bow Valley, should be accustomed to the fact that wild animals are their neighbours, and should be treated as such.
Nick de Ruyter, the WildSmart program director at the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley in Canmore, said Cochranites can take comfort in the fact there’s been no real confrontations.
“I don't think there's a reason to be alarmed or anything like that,” he said.
The human-wildlife expert said cougars have been in that area for some time and residents need to learn to live alongside them.
“It's just cougars following green space looking for food, deer being their prominent or favourite food,” he said. “So I think people are seeing them in their natural habitat doing cougar things.”
He speculated that perhaps people in Canmore are more accustomed to seeing wildlife up close, so residents of the mountain town don’t react as strongly to cougar sightings as Cochranites – especially newer ones – might.
De Ruyter added that people who aren’t comfortable with cougars need to rethink one particular habit.
“If people are actually feeding deer, then that's attracting deer and will attract cougars, obviously,” he said.
Kids and dogs running around erratically will also attract the big cats.
Avoiding the trails at dawn and dusk is also a good strategy, de Ruyter said.
He preaches almost the same initial behaviour for cougar confrontations as for bears.
“Stop, talk, and walk works. Never run away, maybe talk to the people in your group and if you've got your bear spray, pull it out and then talk to the animal in a calm voice and just say, ‘OK, we're leaving the area,’” he said.
“Maybe talk to your group members and tell them not to run away and then walk.”
If that doesn’t work and the cougar continues to approach in a threatening manner, that’s where the bear/cougar advice veers off in different directions.
“Then by all means yell, shout, make yourself look big,” he said. “You don't want to be seen as an easy meal.”
As always with encounters, the wildlife educator cautions there are no hard and fast rules.
If a mother has cubs nearby, a quiet walk away might do the trick, as she perceives little threat. But if a loud and aggressive stance is taken too soon, she might see that as a danger and feel the need to defend her cubs.
Dave Klepacki, executive director of the Bragg Creek Environmental Coalition, said people in the hamlet don’t get very alarmed about safety when they see cougars, since they are somewhat used to them.
“The cougar population here is pretty much saturated, which means we have a very healthy ecosystem, and a healthy deer population,” he said.
People in the more rural areas surrounding Bragg Creek will often let each other know when they see a cougar, but there’s no cause for alarm.
“That’s part of living here,” Klepacki said.
He said the experience of cougars getting closer to the hamlet of Bragg Creek is most likely explained by the fact they’ve been pushed into less favourable habitats by stronger cats.
In talking with a cougar specialist years ago, he learned that those cougars – the ones getting closer to populated areas – may be injured or be having trouble taking deer down effectively, so they may bear closer watching.
There was a sighting of a mother cougar and two yearlings on the northern edge of Bragg Creek a couple of weeks ago. They moved along without incident.
And in June, a cougar took down a deer in a backyard in Elk Valley, and moved on without incident after eating the kill.
Klepacki said he had an encounter with a cougar while out hiking with his dog, and was successful in scaring it away.
“I ran at it with my arms up, shouting ‘hey cougar’ and drove it away,” he said. “In two bounds it was 30 metres away.”
Bear spray has been shown to be effective on cougars and wolves.
Klepacki recounted an anecdote he heard a few years ago from a conservation officer that won’t be found in many wildlife encounter pamphlets: avoid ponytails, as they can possibly remind cougars of a deer tail.
“I don’t know what kind of science went into this, but I’ve heard it several times: when you have a ponytail, don’t have it dangling out the back of a ball cap,” he said.
Fish and Wildlife has a developed a cougar response guide that indicates how to manage human/cougar conflicts. The guide includes a cougar response chart, which is used when capturing a cougar as the result of a conflict incident.
For more information about the Cougar Response Guide, go to open.alberta.ca.
